


seikilos stele

by soulcase



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, He tries to bring his lover back from the dead like come on, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sex, Inspired by Music, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Kageyama Tobio Angst, Kageyama Tobio is a Good Significant Other, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Tragic Romance, haikyuu!! - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27034015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulcase/pseuds/soulcase
Summary: What Hades didn’t foresee was the power of that song, the very first song, being sung out of love from Hinata to Kageyama.That was Persephone. That was the soul of the woman who taught them both.-“While you live, shinehave no grief at alllife exists only for a short whileand Time demands his due.”-Kagehina-centric Haikyuu!! AU inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with a sad and (optional) happy ending.-PLAYLIST: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gWw3ayBda9BZDUm2qL5Bn?si=eS9t6e5SSk-cNi91MGPdQg
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. the epitaph

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of sad srry, just needed a break from writing my other multi-chapter fic and this idea popped in my head. I got a bit excited!
> 
> FYI: I made a mini-epilogue, which I’ll add in a separate chapter. I’m making it optional so that those who like to torture themselves (like myself) can enjoy and those of you who need a little bit of closure can also feel fulfilled.
> 
> I might have messed up with historical details and the way I’ve constructed the characters might deviate from what you expect in certain parts of the dialogue, but I truly hope you enjoy regardless! <3

Kageyama knew he held a hand that wasn’t truly there, distrust looming over him like the wrath of a hundred angry gods.

-

Kageyama Tobio was well-known for two things, his singing and his callousness. The latter repelled any prospective audience members, despite the fact that many knew his voice and loved it.

It was beautiful and haunting, in the way one might mistake the shadows of rustling leaves for the shadow of someone walking behind them - maybe a loved one, a lover, themselves. Whether that brought them happiness, pain, or guilt depended on the song and the season.

Many would say it sounded how memory feels, reviving it and all the accompanying sentiments.

Most loved to hear it, while there were others, those who considered it a curse to have such a concept amplified from the first note until the last.

It was a voice that was as strong as it was delicate, his own a unique and horrifying power that any other person might just reject.

-

It was unfortunate that such a raw heart could be encased in colored-glass case of disdain. He was always alone because of it.

  
He had lost his family early on and had nowhere to turn but to song.

Walking one day, he heard a maiden sing a beautiful song on the street. It moved him so much that he offered her one silver coin. He was still too young to worry about how that coin was just about all he had to his name. She bent down, pushing away his coin, and then cupped his small face in her hands.

“Would you like me to teach you a song?” she asked softly.

Kageyama’s eyes widened and he nodded enthusiastically. She smiled brightly and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening teaching him a song. Eventually, her pipes grew weary from extended use.

“It is the oldest song some say, the first song. Rumor has it, it's a love song composed by a grieving husband whose wife died before him. But your voice will find its own meaning,” she smiled. Under the moonlight, Kageyama thought that if he could remember his mother’s face, she might look like the woman in front of him.

She notices he’s wrinkling his noise in confusion and laughs. Turning to him she says, “Go on, sing it for me one more time before we both have to go home.”

-

_“While you live, shine_ _  
have no grief at all  
life exists only for a short while  
and Time demands his due.”*_

He didn’t understand the song at all, or how it could be a love song.

-

For Kageyama, hatred became known to him a week later, when he saw the woman who taught him song being publicly beaten by her husband, holding the money she had earned that day in his tightly-balled fist. He watched the husband roughly drag her away by her hair, and Kageyama never saw her again after that.

From that day onward, his hatred took root: a hatred for the disturbance of beautiful things, his hatred for betrayal, his hatred for loneliness.

The hatred that plagued his heart overpowered the tenderness of his voice, so overwhelmingly that no one cared to listen anymore. They had grown fearful of it.

At night, Kageyama would sing to himself to sleep. He knew he could be kind, he just felt so detached. He wished someone would understand.

At some point, Kageyama Tobio feared he had followed too deeply to return, so he simply went on that way. Shunning the town as they have him. Until one day, an orange-haired stranger arrived seeking work.

-

“Hello! -

Um… Hi! -

Excuse me, sir? Are you okay? I’m terribly sorry if you’re busy, I just need some help!”

“Huuuuh?” sputtered Kageyama, slightly drunk and slumped over a large tree trunk.

The stranger withdrew, startled by the inebriated man’s loud bark. But when he realized this man had small bits of meat by the corners of his mouth and leaves in his hair, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oi, dumbass! How dare you laugh at me!” he yelled, attempting to lift himself up. Moments later he fell face-down into some, thankfully, soft mud.

The stranger’s laugh grew louder and stronger, but it was surprisingly high-pitched. Kageyama almost mistook it for a woman’s laugh until two rough hands helped him upright.

“You can’t call me a dumbass when you have food by your mouth, reek of alcohol, and just ate shit! Should I help you back home?”

Kageyama wondered how this stranger’s smile could still shine brightly so late into the night. But in his feelings of defeat and physical incapacitation brought on by the copious amount of alcohol in his body, he accepted the kind tangerine’s help.

After propping the man on his shoulders, the stranger introduced himself.  
  


“I’m Hinata Shoyo. Hmmm, do you remember your name?” he said jokingly.

  
“Yes, I remember my name, dumbass,” Kageyama said with a scowl. “It’s Kageyama Tobio.”

-

In the morning, Kageyama woke up to find the stranger writing something in a journal, a plate of bread and olives at his side.

Hinata looked up after hearing Kageyama shuffle, and exclaimed,

“GOOOOD MORNING!” with way too much volume.

“Shut the fuck up, will you!” He brought his palm to the nook between his eye socket and forehead, trying to forcibly cure this hangover headache.

“It’s your fault for getting piss-drunk. Anyway, here you go, Kageyama!”

Kageyama opened one eye to see him handing over the plate of food and a glass of diluted wine.

“Thank you?” he said groggily.

“It isn’t much, but it’s all I had left from what I packed! Consider it a thank you for letting me stay the night here, since I’m not sure where to find lodging. Taking care of you allowed me somewhat of a rest. So, thank you, actually!”

“Took care of me?”

“Yeah, I just said I found you piss-drunk! Piss-drunk, angry, and covered in food and mud. You only threw up a few times, but I already cleaned up and put your robes to soak in water from the river.”

“Wait minute, am I NAKED? Did you fucking undress me?”

Kageyama’s face was red with horror as he took a peek under his sheets.

Hinata lifted his hands up in defense, “No, no, no! Please believe me, you took off your robes almost as soon as we entered your home, I just picked them up! They were covered in mud and wine stains, so I put them to soak. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!”

Hinata’s eyes were wide with fear, but his mouth still formed a cheeky, almost mischevious smile. Kageyama relaxed, his blush deepening further. He swore that if he were buried now, one day someone would unearth him to find a reddened skeleton.

“It’s alright… I’m sorry for troubling you so much.”  
  
“Like I said, it’s okay. HEY!”

Kageyama shot him a death glare, but Hinata was oblivious to the daggers being shot at his head.

“Do you remember my name by any chance?”

Kageyama shook his head.

“It’s Hinata Shoyo. Nice to meet sober you!”

He extended a hand and, ah, there was that wide grin. Kageyama did remember that.

“Kageyama Tobio!” they said in unison.

“I remember!” Hinata exclaimed as he jumped from his seat. “I’ll go put your robes to dry. I’ll leave after that. Say do you know where I could go to inquire about work.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a scribe. I’m looking to scribe documents and records for a noble or the city. It’s a bit boring, actually. I prefer to write verse, but I don’t have a pretty voice to sing my own songs.”

“No, you don’t a nice voice.”

  
“Hey!”

  
“Well..”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Kageyama disliked how the energy so suddenly drained from Hinata. His posture fell as though he deflated under embarrassment and insecurity.

“It’s okay. I sing, you know,” Kageyama replied more timidly than he intended.

“Would you sing my songs?” Hinata’s eyes lit up. That was better.

“Only if they’re good enough to sing.”

“They are, they are! They’re the best, I promise. But… I’ll still need money if one day I decide that I want to write songs only. I’m one of a few blessed to learn how to read and write. I want to make beautiful songs that will be remembered. I just wasn’t blessed with the instruments to bring them to life.”

A long silence followed. Kageyama had no reply, but in his nervousness, he started humming.

Hinata looked up at him in awe, even though it was just a hum.

“Can you sing for me?”

“NO! Well- I- Fine! But find work first and then come back here later.”

“Okay! Okay! I will! I’ll see you later, then!” Hinata buzzed around with excitement, knocking over the stool he was previously sitting on. “Sorry! I’ll go now! Bye bye!” He turned to leave, but Kageyama stopped him.

“Oi! Dumbass! OI!

Could-could you please put my robes to dry?”

Hinata nodded, wrung Kageyama’s clean robes and set them to dry in a sunny spot before he took his leave.

-

When Hinata heard his voice, he cried immediately.

Kageyama looked at him with an indescribable expression.

  
“Stop your blubbering, you idiot! It’s embarrassing! Don’t you have like, pride or modesty?”

“It’s just that- It’s just- You’re beautiful!”

Kageyama choked on his meat. He didn’t know he could blush like this. It might just be the death of him.

“HUUUH?”  
  


Hinata didn’t respond, trying to stifle his sniffles and discreetly wipe his snot. He couldn’t believe Kageyama could sing like _that_.

“Please sing my songs!”

  
“Okay! Just stop crying already!” Kageyama yelled as he swatted the Hinata’s nest of orange ruffles.

The townspeople were bewildered at seeing the buddings of such a friendship between two opposites like Hinata and Kageyama. But the common feeling among them all was one of relief.

-

“Do you ever miss your family?” asked Hinata.

“I think so.”

“You think so?”

“It’s been a really long time. Do you miss yours?”

“I do, but I’m comforted knowing my mother and my sister are doing well. My mother was able to re-marry after my father died and my sister struck it lucky. She’s expected to get engaged and marry the son of a nobleman from my hometown within the next year or so. That left me alone though, burdened by my spontaneous nature and free spirit. I couldn’t see myself marrying, yet I couldn’t see myself watching their lives to move forward from side-stage. So, I left.”

“Do you plan to leave anytime soon?” Kageyama asked, suddenly nervous.

“No. Once I get going, I don’t really stop. But I like it here, so I’ll stay awhile.”

“You know, if you’re so free and happy and energetic all the time, I don’t get why your songs are so sad.”

“It’s not just my family. I think I miss someone else, too, I just don’t really know who they are yet.”  
  


“Huh?”

Hinata laughed when he turned to see Kageyama’s bunched up nose, “Yeah, Kags, I know. Idiotic and impossible, right?”

Kageyama stared at Hinata for a while, who was now looking forward, eyes glossy, like he was fixed on something in front of him that wasn’t there.

In that moment, Kageyama couldn’t breathe. He wanted nothing more than to hold the man in front of him, with tenderness and love.

Love?

“It’s not either of those things. Not at all,” Kageyama whispers.

-

For the first time in forever, Kageyama sings in front of a crowd.

He sings with that trademark passion but only looks at Hinata, who’d written the hymn he performed.

  
There was a lightness in the air that transferred to his voice and in the whirlwind of his sense, he may have cried.

When the festivities ended, the townspeople offered their praises in the form of handshakes and hugs. Older women kissed his cheeks and held his hands. Kageyama could not remember the last time he’d been touched since that maiden singing in the town square of his childhood cupped his cheeks.

When the two returned home – they’d established it as their home – the first thing Kageyama did was hug Hinata.

Hinata was more than happy to return it with the full force of his tiny body. They stood like that for a while, Kageyama silently crying into Hinata’s shoulder as Hinata thought to himself how perfectly balanced they were as a pair.

-

He was a shorter man with a spirit that certainly compensates. Kageyama’s arms embraced that vivacity, nurtured an untamed temperament, and offered it a home it could always return to even if it gave into its constant urge to run off and away.

Not once did he try to trap him or corner him. Hinata was glad he ran here, right to where he should be.

-

“Hinata.”

“Yes, Kageyama.”

“I admire your songwriting abilities.”

“What brought this on?” Hinata laughed.

“Shut up, dumbass. Just take the compliment.”

Hinata nodded.

Kageyama and Hinata were sitting beside a pond, waiting for the small fire to finish cooking their catch of the day.

They had sat close to each other so that their shoulders occasionally brushed against each other when they breathed. Both men were acutely aware of their pinkies slightly overlapping.

A sudden gust of wind knocked the air out of Hinata, putting out the fire along with it. Hinata panicked, irrationally eager to rekindle the fire, claiming he didn’t want both of them getting sick from eating undercooked fish.

Instinctively alarmed by the sudden separation, Kageyama grabbed Hinata’s wrist before he could walk the short distance away.

“Kageyama, let go of me! I need to-”

“Hinata.”

“The fish! What else are we-”

“Hinata, I love you.”

Hinata paused.

He dropped down beside his partner, who seemed so vulnerable, his blue eyes desperately looking for solid ground in his honey ones, consolation in his reply.

“Hinata, I love you,” the dam that contained all of Kageyama’s repressed pain conceded to his heart’s will. “It doesn’t make sense because I have no understanding of what it means to love, but it’s like know this feeling so well. Like it was a memory clouded by fog in the recesses of my mind, but when you found me drunk and disoriented, I never saw so clearly. You’ve returned me to myself and I need to know if you will leave me now.”

It was then that Hinata kissed him feverishly. He ran his fingers through raven hair as strong arms pulled him inward by the waist. Kageyama clung desperately to him as his tears of happiness ran down, not caring that some made their way into the messiness of their kiss.

When Hinata pulled away, Kageyama thought that his messy orange hair perfectly complimented his now puffy, peachy lips and the rouge on his cheeks.

“KAGEYAAAMMAAAA, IT’S JUST LIKE YOU WROTE ME YOUR OWN SONG, I’M SO HAPPYYYY,” cried Hinata. He continued to press kisses to Kageyama’s forehead, cheeks, palms, neck, shoulders, anywhere that he could to affirm the man before him was real and sincere.

With each kiss, he said, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

-

That night they made love for the first time, carefully and intimately. And a second time, desperately and sloppily. And a third time, just because they couldn’t get enough of exploring each other.

Finally, they exhausted themselves, sheets are strewn across the floor, and a sheen coat of sweat covers them both.

Lazily, Hinata grabbed a sheet from the ground so they could sleep without freezing. Kageyama pulled him in trying his best to drink in his lover before his eyes closed completely.

With that, Hinata scooted up and pulled Kageyama’s face toward his so that the tips of their noses touched, leaving no other way to look except at each other.

His thumb stroked Kageyama’s cheek, and then brushed stray hair strands from his face.

Kageyama was truly a sight to see when his features softened. Hinata laughed at his own contradiction: he felt immense happiness knowing this intimacy was for him, but he also wished the world could see it, too. To yell at the gods, he is more beautiful than all of you! To thank them in the same breath.

That brought him to his question.

“Kags?”

Kageyama’s eyelids were fluttering; he was trying to open them but failed. Hinata knew Kags could hear him.

“Do you think the gods will bless us?”

A pause. Kageyama planted a gentle kiss on Hinata’s nose.

“Have we ever needed a god’s blessing?”

This answer satisfied both of them, and they drifted to sleep.

-

The thing about the gods is that they are always angry. And they are always listening.

-

Kageyama and Hinata got married a year later.

On their wedding day, they held a private ceremony by that same pond where they first kissed.

It was only for the two of them. Hinata cried and Kageyama sang. They completed each other.

-

They bickered, they laughed, they fought, they fucked, they cried, and they smiled. They sang.

Many of the townspeople who married out of obligation would envy them if the two of them cared about public appearances.

But one man did notice them and his envy threatened to consume him.

-

As Hinata collected firewood, townsman Miya Atsumu followed closely behind, ducking behind trees and bushy plants to avoid detection.

Damning the consequences of an enraged lover or the wrath of Zeus, he would profess his undying love to Hinata and how he shouldn’t let his union with Kageyama keep him in a cage. That with him, he could go anywhere and do anything, and he would let Hinata roam as freely as he wished. He had noticed the orange-haired boy and much like Kageyama, he fell in love instantly.

Every so often, he would purposefully bump into him on the street, trying to strike up a conversation. But Hinata never seemed to remember him well enough, despite always greeting him with a warm smile and energetic laughter. Instead, he saw how he looked at Kageyama when he performed at parties or nobles’ spectacles. Atsumu knew the intensity of the redhead’s love would never be fully his, but he thought if he could just take Hinata and show him the world undiscovered, he might learn to forget his other half and love him anyway.

It was a foolish thought, because the moment he leaped toward the object of his fixation, a snake jumped out from beneath the bed of twigs and bit Hinata on his wrist.

Hinata cried, and Atsumu ran to pull the snake from his arm, but to no avail.

He saw horror memorialized on Hinata’s face as the venom ran through his body. He tried to carry him, but the screams and convulsions made it difficult. Atsumu tried to deny that he really was carrying dead weight.

  
When they finally made it to a doctor, Hinata was inches away from death. He wanted to see Kageyama one last time and tell him the rest of their lives he had planned for them and all the hymns he'd not yet written.

“Kageyama” was the last thing Hinata uttered before he gave into the black.

Atsumu, shell-shocked and heartbroken, ran to find Kageyama, cursing himself for being the last thing Hinata saw before dying. He knew he wasn’t the last thing, not really, anyway; no matter how the venom affected his body and mind, Kageyama was always going to be last flash of light before the dark.

Atsumu realized that all the wildness in Hinata that he thought to be untethered continued to exist and thrive because that formerly calloused, unfeeling bastard never intended to tame it. Instead, he built Hinata's life-force its own world the two of them could roam together.

Atsumu would find Kageyama, for Hinata. At least he could do that to apologize to him for misunderstanding it all. Then, Atsumu would run wherever else, anywhere else Hinata might have wanted to see. 

-

Kageyama doesn’t know how long he held Hinata’s lifeless body against his chest. He deluded himself into thinking that if he warmed him up enough, loved him enough, he might be revived.

The doctor told him science that didn’t work that way.

He attempted to pull the distraught bard off of his lover, but Kageyama vehemently resisted. He grabbed the doctor by his collar with one arm, still holding Hinata in the other.

“Leave us. Now.”

The doctor understood, fearful of a familiar rage he saw returned in Kageyama’s eyes.

Kageyama wept and wept.

“Dumbass! Dumbass, dumbss, dumb, dumb dmmmm…”

He couldn’t even string together two words because of his sobs, so he started to sing.

When he finally had to give up, he sang all the way to the pond. He didn’t notice the strange looks and hushed whispers of the townspeople. They were just strangers, after all.

He sang until he found himself alone. He screamed.

Kept screaming as he fell to his knees and pounded his fists against hard dirt until it spewed back up in his face and his fists were left sore and bloodied.

When he was emptied, he sang again. He thought this is it. This is all I can do, and he can’t even hear me.

He sang the hymn he’d sung the night they married, and, oh, how his voice was swollen with love, coarse with despair.

His own voice mocked his loss.

When he looked up from the ground, he was frightened by the sight of a woman who seemed to glow before him.

He stared at this woman and noticed that she too cried.

How could this woman be so cruel as to cry without reason? Was she laughing at him? Not wanting to burst, Kageyama got up to leave, swearing he would never sing before an audience again when the woman’s honeyed voice commanded him to stop.

As though his movements were involuntary, he turned around to face the woman who began to float closer toward him.

“Go to the underworld,” her message echoed in his mind. She wasn’t speaking, so how could he hear her?

“Sing for Hades and he may let you bring back your love. Go to the underworld and sing for him as you have just done in front of me.”

She disappeared after that.

  
“Wait for me,” spoke Kageyama across the pond, hoping that if Hinata were somewhere on the other side, he would hear him.

-

He was given one condition.

“My Persephone and I were so moved by your song that I will grant you this one chance to retrieve your love from these depths of the underworld.

If Persephone were cruelly ripped away from me, I too would make the journey to search for her. Even if that meant searching so long that my body withered to become another one of these wailing, aimless bastards,” said Hades with an intonation doused with more apathy than his message seemed to want to say.

Persephone, standing a great distance away from Hades, looked sadly at Kageyama. The goddess Persephone was the woman who appeared before him.

“Take him from here, please. I have never heard such anguish but in your songs. I wish you to be happy, with your soulmate by your side,” said the woman, trying to comfort him with kindness.

Hades eyed her carefully, before grinning maliciously at Kageyama.

“Yes, yes! Happiness! I can give that back to you, happily,” stretching out that last syllable, transforming the sentiment into something twisted and sour. “But only on one condition.”

Hades crossed one leg over the other, evidently feeling triumphant with the condition he thought up.  
  


“After you find your lover waiting by the River Styx, you must make the rest of the way across the abyss and up to the entrance leading to the land of the living without turning back to look at them. If you look at them, I will immediately pull them back and you will lose them again. You will be barred from any other attempts. The next and only chance you would get at finding them again would the next time you traverse the River Styx for yourself.”

Hades’s grin was curved like a scythe. Persephone grabbed her stomach and her skin paled.

Kageyama gulped down whatever lump was in his throat. “Why must that be your sole condition?”

Hades groaned; he saw no effort in explaining to this mortal the necessity of his condition. His head fell back, and when he looked at Kageyama again, Hades had transformed: his eyes glowed red and his teeth sharpened before his eyes. He sucked on his teeth almost lustfully and laughed with a pleasure that matched.

“I have been able to see your fears from the moment they developed. I know what this soul means to you and the anguish in your song…” he paused, his breath quivered, and he squirmed in his throne. “The anguish you sang was just sooooo delectable. It was the most beautiful pain I’ve ever heard first-hand, and I don’t even have to justify why I would want to see it again, do I? You’re a mortal, so you really can’t imagine what great responsibility comes with overseeing the underworld.”

This god, demon? He gripped the armrests of his chair as he concluded, “It’s really very simple. I am the god of the underworld, but first and foremost” - his voice deepened and echoed so loudly Kageyama was sure every soul, no matter how far removed they were, cowered before this malevolence - “I am a sadist.”

In the next moment, Hades stood and bellowed, “NOW GO! LEAVE AND FIND THAT DAMNED SOUL YOU PRIZE, BUT REMEMBER: DON’T LOOK BACK.”

Even Persephone had disappeared.

Kageyama ran, knowing that when he found Hinata, he wouldn’t even want to look back.

-

When he saw a head of orange hair standing, staring out across the infinite void of the River Styx, he called to him as loudly as he could.

“HINATA!”

Kageyama was surprised to find that as the apparition ran toward him, it seemed like he was still flesh. Hinata embraced him in that impossible place, kissing him to close any separation that was between them.  
  
“I love you! I love you! I’m so sorry but see, I waited! And you’re late!” Hinata was lightly hitting Kageyama’s arm out of happiness.

Kageyama cried through shut eyes and rested his forehead on Hinata’s.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye before. I love you so much. Look, we have to go but I can’t look at you anymore until we pass the threshold, okay?”

“Okay,” Hinata said as he took Kageyama’s hand that led him away. Hinata was glad Kageyama’s eyes were closed. Because several souls, stripped of face, name, and purpose, stood still to watch.

-

Kageyama couldn’t stand it.

He knew he held a hand that wasn’t truly there, distrust looming over him like the wrath of a hundred angry gods.

He remembered life before Hinata arrived; how he was shunned by the public for his loneliness and pent-up anger.

He was panting now, despite Hinata begging him to calm down, informing him there was no time limit they had to abide by. Whether it was from the uphill climb or his desperation, Kageyama was in physical pain and all he wanted was for the two of them to escape together in whole pieces.

The light from the portal ahead blinded them, but Kageyama kept on walking, pulling at Hinata’s arm roughly.  
  
Hinata yanked Kageyama’s arm and yelled, “STOP!”

Kageyama’s hand clenched tightly around Hinata’s wrist as he screamed back, “IT’S RIGHT THERE! Right, right there, there…” he sobbed into his other hand. “Why are you stopping me?”  
  


Hinata said slowly, “Let’s keep going. But first,”

He wriggled his wrist up from Kageyama’s hand so that he could interlace their fingers. Kageyama's shaking eventually ceased.

“Now, keep walking.”

Slowly and calmly, they trekked on.

-

“Can I sing for you?” asked Hinata.

“Can’t it wait until we’re back?”

“Nooooo,” Hinata whined. “It seems like we’ve still got a little way to go. Plus, I learned a song down here. It’s short, I promise.”

“Okay,” Kageyama said softly.

Hinata hummed softly, warming up his vocal cords, he explained when Kageyama laughed.

The song Hinata decided to sing made Kageyama’s breath hitch.

_“While you live, shine_ _  
have no grief at all  
life exists only for a short while  
and Time demands his due.”_

-

When Kageyama didn’t respond, Hinata’s heart sunk, “Was it that bad? After all that practice?”

“How did you come to learn that song?” Kageyama asked.

“You know, I have no idea. I just kept hearing a woman’s voice sing it whenever I started to think of you. I’ve missed you.”

They inched closer to the portal.

“It’s a beautiful song.”

  
“Really?” Hinata cried happily.

Closer.

“Really.”

“Okay, I’ll sing it all the time!”

Even closer.

“Yes, please do.”

Almost there.

“I will!”

Inches away.

“You know, I don’t think I told you, but, but, but that was the first song I ever learned, too.”

Right in front of us.

“I’ll sing it for you, too, Hinata! Whenever you want! When we get back, we’ll eat first. And then I’ll kiss you, and never stop,”

Crossing over.

“And we’ll make love all night long. And I’ll love you with everything I have for the rest of our lives, and”

Turning around.

“KAGS, NO, WAIT!”

Too late.

Kageyama stopped and Hinata cried as he watched the look of absolute devastation cloud Kageyama’s face like a black veil.

“NONONONO, COME ON,” he screamed as he grabbed for Hinata’s hand again only for it to slip through.

“Kageyama," Hinata said, still a step behind the threshold, "I’m so sorry. I think- I feel like I’m being pulled away.”

-

Hades was true to his word.

He predicted the moment when Kageyama would turn around like he set up the moment for himself.

When the time came, instead of having Hinata suddenly disappear, he would slowly dematerialize the false image before the raven-haired, desperate bard. He would torture him that way, in watching the beautiful image of his lover, who was almost there in a sense, fade back into the black - cursing the tricks of Hades, wallowing in the emptiness of his own cries.

-

What Hades didn’t foresee was the power of that song, the very first song, being sung out of love from Hinata to Kageyama.

That was Persephone. That was the soul of the woman who taught them both.

-

_“While you live, shine_ _  
have no grief at all  
life exists only for a short while  
and Time demands his due.”_

-

“Kags, will you look up for me, please?”

  
Hinata was gradually fading and it pained Kageyama to listen, but he forced his gaze upward.

He could see tears welling in Hinata’s eyes, looking straight at him - so close yet so distant - and he recognized that look from that time, years ago when they sat by the pond. He didn’t know how he was bearing it now, on weak knees and broken will.

“Kags, thank you for singing. I can still hear, you know? So, please don’t stop.”

“I can’t.. I can’t sing without you. I have no song left.”

“Hey, idiot, do you remember your name?”

“Huh? It’s Kageyama Tobio.”

He was almost gone, and he was broken, and Hinata still asked stupid questions?

Hinata chuckled sweetly like he’d overheard the thought.

“Do you remember my name?”

“Hinata… Hinata Shoyo.”

“Don’t forget them! I’m counting on it! They’re all the song you’ll ever need.”

Hinata was just a whisper now.

“I love you, Kageyama. I’ll be listening and waiting.”

“I love you, too, Hinata.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for reading! If you want to read the mini-epilogue, continue to the next chapter, I’ll copy and paste the notes below there as well.
> 
> \- - -
> 
> If you don’t want to read it, how are we feeling? We okay? 
> 
> Formalities first: 
> 
> *The composition I included which was so central to my rendition of this myth is titled “Seikilos Stele.” Follow this link to read more about it and even hear what it could have sounded like: https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/ancient/explore-one-of-the-greatest-cities-of-the-ancient-world-with-virtual-rome/
> 
> The tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice rlly indulges my feelings of eternal longing… 
> 
> I don’t know if you can tell, but I love circularity in stories. I’m a wh*re for overwhelming symbolism. I promise I can write more than just Greek mythology AU, LOL! It lets me be overly-dramatic and flowery with the language. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this fusion. Please leave a kudos and comment with feedback! Much love! :)


	2. the epilogue (optional)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reunion.

Hinata retained his face and name and purpose far longer than most, it unnerved Hades.

Hinata did not wander aimlessly; he sat by the River Styx humming that same song, having learned the meaning of patience and waiting for its promised reward.

One day, Kageyama would cross that abyss to reunite with his soulmate. They kissed and they embraced like it was their very first night together. In a way, it was.

In this afterlife, they met one another anew, braving the uncertainty of the underworld together. What remained the same as ever was their music.

Together, their song, that very first song, echoed throughout the underworld with a sound so saturated with love, even Hades keeled over in understanding - the sound reverberating through his immortal bones.

-

“You’re here.”

“I’m here.”

-

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... how y'all doin....
> 
> Thank you so so much for reading the story and this epilogue!
> 
> Formalities first: 
> 
> *The composition I included which was so central to my rendition of this myth is titled “Seikilos Stele.” Follow this link to read more about it and even hear what it could have sounded like: https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/ancient/explore-one-of-the-greatest-cities-of-the-ancient-world-with-virtual-rome/
> 
> The tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice rlly indulges my feelings of eternal longing… 
> 
> I gave y'all a little treat with the "I'm here, you're here" bit BUTTT you can interpret who says which part. :') Iykyk!
> 
> I don’t know if you can tell, but I love circularity in stories. I’m a wh*re for overwhelming symbolism. I promise I can write more than just Greek mythology AU, LOL! It lets me be overly-dramatic and flowery with the language. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this fusion. Please leave a kudos and a comment with feedback! Much love! :)


	3. not a chapter - playlist link + songs hehe

hello!!! srry srry, this obvs isn't a chapter update, but i did want to shamelessly promote this playlist i made inspired by this fic, hehe. i made a playlist for my other fic, but i also wanted to make one for this one bc "Eurydice" by TPoBPaH came on shuffle and well... you know the rest!! 

n e ways...

here is the playlist [link](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gWw3ayBda9BZDUm2qL5Bn?si=eS9t6e5SSk-cNi91MGPdQg)!!!

if you don't have spotify, here's the list of songs if you wanna listen/explore :-)

songs:

"Somebody you found" - The Japanese House

"Eurydice" - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

"Pretty Little Birds" - SZA (ft. Isaiah Rashad)

"Komorebi" - Craft Spells

"I Can Feel The Ice Melting" - Yo La Tengo

"Take the Blame so I Don't Have To" - Spooky Black

"When the Sun Hits" - Slowdive

"Awhileaway" - Yo La Tengo

"It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) - Arcade Fire

"Saturn Song" - Beach House

"Lighthouse" - Grouper

"In the Arms of Sleep" - Smashing Pumpkins

ok that's all thank you for reading n i hope you enjoy the playlist!!! :)


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